'The Daily' making it way to Android tablets in Q2

After a highly promoted launch on the iPad earlier this month, News Corp's The Daily digital newpaper is heading to Android tablets in the second quarter of this year according to All Things Digital. During the announcement event (read our sister site TiPB's coverage) it was noted in Q&A that the paper would make the jump to other platforms, but that "this year, next year belong to Apple."

Even so, it is encouraging to see such a prominent app making its way to Android tablets so soon after its initial launch. Head on over into the Android Central Forums and let us know if you intend to check it out. [All Things Digital]

Forget an Oscar award, Motorola is giving out golden Xooms

Every year, Hollywood gathers for The Academy Awards to celebrate movies and the talent that comes with them. Actors and actresses walk across the red carpet with big smiles and designer clothing. But this year will be a little different. Hollywood's talent will be given something else to show off at the Academy Awards. Motorola will be giving out gold Motorola Xooms to the hosts and the nominees in the Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director categories. The snazzy Xoom will also come with a custom leather case, too.

As for the rest of us, we can just pick up the regular all-black Xoom this Thursday. [Engadget]

New Android 3.0 Honeycomb wallpapers

Want to add a drop of Honeycomb to your phone, desktop or tablet? You can now find nine new wallpapers from the latest Android 3.0 SDK build over on the Android Central forums. The images are all at least 1920x1280 resolution, so there's plenty of pixels to go around. Eight of the images are brand new, while one is a higher-quality version of one of the wallpapers from the earlier SDK preview.

A few have been seen over the past couple of months on Honeycomb tablets like the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, while some haven't been shown in public before. Head on over to the Android Central forums now to get your hands on this latest cache of pretty pictures.

Android Honeycomb 3.0 SDK add-on finalized and available

Google has released the full Honeycomb 3.0 SDK updates, meaning developers can download and begin work with the finalized APIs for Honeycomb. This comes in preparation for the launch of the Motorola Xoom on Feb. 24 and will let developers check what they've built using the 3.0 SDK preview against the final version before the Honeycomb tablets start to roll out. If you're an app developer, or just like to keep your SDK current, you can update things through the SDK manager.

It's worth noting that the AOSP source (as well as Motorola's open-source portions) should be released before the Xoom is launched, so be on the lookout for that come Thursday morning if you're a DIY kind of person. [Android Developers blog]

Motorola Xoom to have unlockable bootloader for developers

Motorola just confirmed via Twitter that the Xoom will have an unlockable bootloader to aid developers in app development. Here it is, in no uncertain terms:

"The XOOM will have an unlockable/relockable bootloader that will enable developers to access hardware for development."

As the first Android Honeycomb tablet, it is vital for the Android platform that devs have as much access to the device as possible, so this is darn good news. [Twitter via Android Central Forums] Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

The speculation over the price of the Motorola Xoom Android Honeycomb tablet is ... over. The 10.1-inch tablet will cost $599.99 with a two year contract, or $799.99 off contract. Data plans start at $20 a month for 1GB -- which should last you about 25 minutes once this thing is upgraded to LTE in the second quarter. The Wifi-only version we're all waiting for is still a no show.

Regardless, you can pick up a Xoom on Thursday at Verizon stores, online or anywhere else you can pick one up. Full presser's after the break.

Adobe: Motorola Xoom will get Flash 10.2 over the air 'within a few weeks'

While we certainly agree that the Motorola Xoom launching without Adobe Flash is a bit of a gaffe (especially on top the Honeycomb tablet not launching with 4G capability or a working microSD card), kudos to Adobe for clearing things up a tad. The Xoom will get an over-the-air (OTA) update that will bring Flash 10.2 to the 10.1-inch tablet. From Matt Rozen on the Adobe Flash blog:

Adobe will offer Flash Player 10.2 preinstalled on some tablets and as an OTA download on others within a few weeks of Android 3 (Honeycomb) devices becoming available, the first of which is expected to be the Motorola Xoom.

Good to see that it should be updated in short order. But let's hope this isn't the first in a trend of what otherwise should be an exciting time for Android tablet fans. [Adobe]

Looks like you can add Adobe Flash to the list of features the Motorola Xoom won't have when it launches this week on Verizon. In addition to missing LTE data and access to the microSD card, you'll find yourself Flashless when if you pick up the first Honeycomb Android tablet this week. Motorola confirmed to us today that the footnote on Verizon's Xoom page is, indeed (and sadly) correct.

Best Buy Motorola XOOM pre-order page back -- again

For those of you who have been following along with all the Best Buy, Motorola XOOM chaos you might like to know that Best Buy now seems to have all their affairs in order for pre-ordering the Motorola XOOM. Despite Best Buy pulling the trigger not once but rather twice on their XOOM pre-order pages another one has now popped up on their site and looks like it might actually remain there rather then being removed.

Don't get too excited though, you can't actually pre-order using the page (yet?) it just tells you to visit your local Best Buy instead. Oh right, it's not $1200 either; they opted to not add any price this time. [Best Buy] Thanks, JC!

Update - Prices and accessories now added to the page. Listed price is $799.

Motorola Xoom displays arriving in stores

You can just about taste the Motorola Xoom. As you can see above, display materials are starting to make their way into stores, and official ability is believed to be right around the corner, possibly in the next few days.

Pricing still isn't official, however, and we're still waiting on Google to release the Honeycomb code to manufacturers, so there are a couple of pretty big steps still to be taken before we get this 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet in our fat little fingers.

But we're getting closer, folks. One more pic after the break. Thanks, S!

Motorola posts full Xoom specs, GSM and WiFi-only versions confirmed

With the Xoom's impending launch, Motorola has seen fit to post full technical specs up for the world to see. There aren't really any surprises here other than confirmation of a GSM version but no word on where or when we might see it. And yes, the WiFi-only and GSM versions are exactly the same as the CDMA one except for the radio. If you have a pressing need to find out just how many OpenGL extensions the Xoom supports (no, we aren't kidding), head on past the read link. [Motorola via Engadget, Motodev Forums]

Motorola announces European Xoom retail plans

Motorola Mobility has announced its European retail arrangements for the upcoming Xoom tablet.

According to Moto's press release, the Xoom will arrive on European shores in the second quarter of 2011. In the UK, the Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy will stock the 3G/WiFi version, while the WiFi-only Xoom will be available at PC World and Currys. Elsewhere, Motorola says that T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom will introduce the Xoom in "selected markets".

No prices were mentioned, but the Xoom was recently given a price of $799 for 3G/WiFi and $600 for WiFi-only in the US. Inflated European prices are pretty much par for the course when it comes to consumer electronics though, so we'd expect the Xoom to retail for more than exchange rates would suggest. [Motorola Media Center]

Silver Motorola Xoom is a Motorola Xoom ... that's silver

We've used the Motorola Xoom Android Honeycomb tablet on a number of occasions now, but never the silver one. Let's walk you through the differences:

It's silver. And it's expected to be the non-Verizon version that'll be available whenever it's available.

We also played around a bit with the Speaker HD Dock for the Xoom. The 10.1-inch tablet pugs into it horizontally and can play music over the speaker. And there's an HDMI port in the back for HD output. Thus the Speaker HD Dock, we imagine. Pics are after the break.

Viewsonic ViewPad 4 Hands-on [MWC]

While we've been following Viewsonic's tablets for some time now, we haven't yet paid much attention to what, if any, phone efforts they've made in the past. We can't really promise that will change in the future now that we've had some hands-on time with the decidedly utilitarian ViewPad 4. It's not that there's anything wrong with a blocky, squarish, bare-bones Android phone, it's just that there isn't anything particularly inspiring to be had here. Granted, we had a prototype here, as they hadn't yet even loaded up Google's apps on the device.

Spec-wise, we have a 4.1" 800x480 screen, a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM 8255 with Quad-band GSM, 512MB RAM and 2GB storage, Bluetooth 3.0, a 5mp camera (720p video) on the rear and VGA on the front, and a 1400 mAh battery powering it all. Sort of amazing to be ho-humming specs like that because there's really nothing to complain about. Hey, it's running Android 2.4 Gingerbread, so maybe a little more wide-eyed wonder is called for - we'll see how we feel when we find out pricing and availability later this year.

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